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The Kaiten Weapon
By Yutaka Yokota. 2015
THE KAITEN WEAPON is the full story of a fantastic suicide weapon--the manned torpedo --and of the volunteers who deliberately…
offered their lives in defense of Japan.So secret that few people even in Japan knew of its existence, the Kaiten force was a desperate and fanatic attempt to smash the U.S. fleet in the closing months of the war.Yutaka Yokota, a Kaiten force volunteer himself, tells how men were trained, gives complete details about the weapon's performance and how it was operated, and provides a comprehensive account of every Kaiten mission.Joseph D. Harrington, an American expert on U.S. Naval operations in World War II, worked closely with Yokota in preparing this first English language edition of his book. In addition, he has provided an accurate appraisal from U.S. sources of the results of Kaiten attacks, making this the definitive work on one of the most bizarre and fanatical fighting groups of the war.Finland And World War II, 1939-1944
By Prof. John H. Wuorinen. 2015
Finland gained its independence from Russia in 1917 during the turmoil of the Russian Civil War, and ever since the…
communist leaders cast envious eyes toward their former domain; only waiting for a chance to invade. With the rise of Hitler's Germany the face of Europe changed, agreements were reached between the Soviets and the Nazis in brutally dividing up a nigh-defenceless and the detente culminated in the Non-Aggression Pact of 1939. This gave Stalin and his cohorts a chance to expand their borders, whilst Hitler looked west at France and Britain, by launching an attack directed to recapture their former Grand Duchy. Thus started Finland's participation in the Second World War. This book eloquently recounts the stubborn resistance of the Finns against the Soviet attack during the Winter War, the horrific siege of Leningrad and the Finns brave bid to retain its independence from Soviet dominance. The manuscript for the book was smuggled out of Soviet controlled Finland in late 1945, it was passed to Professor Wuorinen who skilfully edited and annotated the work into its present form.A fascinating sidelight on a little known corner of the brutal Second World War.Confederate Delaying Action At The Battle Of Port Gibson, 1 May 1863
By Major George E. Cone. 2015
This study is a historical analysis of Confederate Major General John S. Bowen's delaying action during the Battle of Port…
Gibson. This research looks at how a numerically inferior force can successfully delay a numerically superior force. This American Civil War battle during the Vicksburg Campaign pitted Bowen's diminutive forces against the numerically superior Union forces under Major General Ulysses S. Grant. The resulting delaying action on 1 May 1863 is referred to as the Battle of Port Gibson.This successful Confederate delaying action has been overlooked in many historical contexts. Most historians emphasize Grant's audacity in conducting an amphibious operation south of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Confederate perspective is often referred to as a gamble. Yet, against the odds, Bowen masterfully deployed his numerically inferior force to delay a Union force four times larger. Bowen's forces effectively utilized the terrain to buy precious time for the arrival of additional reinforcements from the Vicksburg garrison. Bowen welded his composite division into a formidable fighting force. Confederate battle tactics were characterized by a strong sense of urgency and superb leadership. Bowen yielded to superior Union forces after a protracted day of bitter fighting.General Logistics Paradigm: A Study Of The Logistics Of Alexander, Napoleon, And Sherman
By Captain R Alan Hardemon USAF. 2015
This study examines the campaigns of Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and William T. Sherman. By analyzing the influences of…
the logistics policies and practices employed during these campaigns common underlying logistics principles are identified. The resultant logistics principles are then codified into a logistics paradigm to be used when developing and managing operational level logistics.Using an analysis schema that employs inductive reasoning, principles of historical analysis and critical thinking, each of the three campaigns is analyzed to identify events of interest. The events of interest are specific occurrences during the campaign when what occurred was directly influenced by logistics or logistics, policies and practices were influenced by what occurred. Using a modified version of the Threads of Continuity approach to the study of history, four key logistics principles are identified: centralized control/decentralized execution, flexibility, the proper application of technology, and understand the environment.The four principles are then codified into a general logistics paradigm. The viability and the application of the paradigm are discussed. Additionally, previous logistics principles from different authors are described and compared to the paradigm offered in this thesis.Air-To-Ground Battle For Italy [Illustrated Edition]
By Michael Mccarthy. 2015
Includes over 20 Illustrations.The story of a young fighter pilot from basic training through the end of the war in…
Europe, this short memoir is a welcome addition to the literature of World War II aviation. It is noteworthy for a number of reasons. It illuminates the world of tactical aviation, which has taken a backseat to stories of strategic bombing and air superiority combat...Perhaps most importantly, it combines the immediacy of contemporary impressions with the reflections possible after a long and distinguished Air Force career.Michael C. McCarthy was part of the first wave of young Americans who joined up in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. His peer group...arrived at the North African front in the spring of 1943 as part of an enormous bow wave of American human and industrial mobilization. His account of flight training is one of the best available anywhere and captures--in microcosm--the huge undertaking required to produce thousands of highly trained combat crews for the Allied war effort. McCarthy and his comrades joined the veterans of the prewar Army Air Corps who had held the line from El Alamein through the desperate battles around Kasserine Pass. McCarthy spent his entire war with the 57th Fighter Group, first flying the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and later the powerful Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.His battlefield was not in the stratosphere over the Third Reich...His war began with a ferry flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to Cape Bon, Tunisia, after the Axis defeat in North Africa; through the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the long slog up the Italian peninsula in 1943-1944 including landings at Salerno, Anzio, and the battles around Monte Cassino, with a brief detour in support of the invasion of southern France. Their unglamorous business was conducting interdiction and close air support, part of a lengthy and costly combined-arms effort to leverage the Germans out of their powerful defensive positions on the Italian peninsula.Escape In Italy; The Narrative Of Lieutenant William L. Newnan
By Lt. William L. Newnan. 2015
During the bloody fighting of the Second World War the hills, river valleys and hellish attrition of the Italian campaign…
are often overlooked as a sideshow. However some of the toughest fighting and heroic actions of the entire period took place in the beautiful but deadly Italian countryside; one such tale is that of Lt. Newnan. Then as now, the Army Rangers get the toughest assignments, Lt. Newnan and his men were tasked with attacking Cisterna during the Anzio campaign. The elite, but lightly armed, Rangers were ambushed by German Panzer forces, outnumbered and outgunned many Rangers were captured including the author. Not one to be so easily defeated Lt. Newnan began an epic journey of escape and evasion in Nazi infested Italy which he recounts in this vivid and colorful memoir.Reminiscences Of The Civil War And Other Sketches
By Sergeant Ralph J. Smith. 2015
A short but colorful memoir by a sergeant in the 2nd Texas regiment, which served with distinction in the Western…
Theatre of the Civil War. Sergeant Smith volunteered in the first months of the outbreak of the Civil War, but his first real taste of the conflict came as part of the Army of the Mississippi under General Albert Sidney Johnson at Shiloh. The author recounts the confused nature of the fighting around the Hornet's Nest and the sorrow of the repulse but above all the deep sense of loss at the death of their Confederate leader. After duties around the outskirts of Vicksburg, Smith and his comrades were among the Confederate soldiers that were penned up there by the Union forces under General Grant. Despite a fierce resistance the Confederate soldiers of Vicksburg were forced to surrender and the troops were paroled. Eventually exchanged, Smith spent the rest of the war in the garrison of Galveston under General Magruder before settling in San Marcos Texas.Reminiscences Of The Civil War by Theodore M. Nagle, formerly sergeant Company “C,” 21st Regiment, N.Y.S. Vol. Inf.
By Sergeant Theodore M. Nagle. 2015
Sergeant Nagle, a native of Erie New York, recounts his reminiscences of the Civil War in the Eastern theatre 1861-1863.Nagle…
spent his soldiering career in the 21st New York State Infantry, 1st Buffalo, joining the Union ranks in the first year of the war. Assigned initially to the Washington defences at Fort Runyon, Nagle would have to wait until 1862 for action as part of General McClellan's Army of the Potomac and then under General Pope on the Rappahannock, culminating with the bloody defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas. He and his comrades of the First Corps next engagement would be under General McClellan at the brutal battle of Antietam fighting around the Dunker church. After heavy losses at Fredericksburg the 21st NYS was ordered to form part of General Patrick's Provost Guard Brigade at Aquia Creek. Nagle was eventually discharged in 1863 at the end of his two year enlistment having seen as much action as any soldier of the Union armies during the first two years of the Civil War.Yankee In Gray: The Civil War Memoirs Of Henry E. Handerson
By Captain Henry E Handerson. 2015
Henry E. Handerson, a tutor from the Western Reserve of Ohio, fifteen miles east of Cleveland, enlisted in the Confederate…
army on June 17, 1861...Handerson was not an ordinary soldier. His memoir is the account of a Northerner--who after only two years of residency in antebellum Louisiana decided to cast his lot with the Confederacy. ...Already a member of a local home guard company, the twenty-four-year-old Ohio-born Handerson was quickly enrolled as a private in the Stafford Guards, later Company B, of the Ninth Louisiana Infantry. The Ninth was first bloodied at the Battle of Front Royal, Virginia, on May 23, 1862, in a brisk fight with the Union First Maryland Infantry. As part of Stonewall Jackson's command, the regiment and Handerson marched and fought up and down the length of the Shenandoah Valley before moving down to Richmond to participate in the bloody Seven Days Battle. Handerson took part in the Fredericksburg battle, and later in the spring of 1863, was wounded in the neck at Chancellorsville. Lieutenant Handerson recovered from his wound just in time to reach Gettysburg on the last day of the battle there. In the Battle of the Wilderness, while carrying a dispatch, Handerson ran into an advancing battle line and was taken prisoner...and confined under poor living conditions, in a stockade in the direct line of fire from the Confederates at Charleston. Surviving this ordeal, Handerson wound up the war at Fort Pulaski, Georgia.Handerson's memoirs and his letters give a sympathetic picture of war and life in the Confederate army as seen through the eyes of a Northerner who lacked the emotional involvement of the native-born Southerners. His account of service with the army of Northern Virginia and as a prisoner of war is of particular value regarding the everyday details and incidents of a soldier's life. Important figures and Confederate heroes are treated fairly but objectively by this keen-eyed observer.-Edward CunninghamThis monograph discusses General George S. Patton, Jr. and Operational Battle Command. Six primary elements -- Leadership, Decision Making, Information…
Assimilation, Visualization, Conceptualization, and Communication make up the dynamics of Battle Command. General Patton mastered the application of these dynamics. This monograph defines and provides examples of the dynamics of Battle Command as used by General Patton while he commanded the Third Army.The monograph first discusses Command and Control of Third Army, as well as General Patton's relationship with his primary staff. The monograph then defines and provides examples of each of the dynamics of Battle Command using General Patton and his staff as the example.In conclusion the monograph provides three relevant lessons for future operational commanders concerning operational Battle Command based upon a historical study of General Patton. The lessons learned from the study include the training and retention of a competent staff, the commander personally focusing the intelligence effort, and the commander issuing clear intent and guidance especially regarding endstates.Clausewitz And Torgau: Link-Up On The Elbe
By Lt Col Howard S Perry. 2015
There has been a great deal of speculation and questions raised as to why the United States and the Western…
Allies allowed the Soviets to capture the Nazi capital of Berlin. This study will address a number of reasons why the U.S. did not challenge the Soviets for Berlin. In prosecuting World War II, the Soviets never forgot Clausewitz's dictum that war is a continuation of politics by other means. Stalin, who was determined to liberate every East European capital, suspected that the Allies might try a headlong rush to Berlin in April and May 1945. He therefore decided to take diplomatic and military steps to make sure the Allies would not participate in the capture of the German capital. Recent translated material made available through glasnost, provides evidence that the top USSR priority in the closing days of WWII in Europe was to block the Allied advance to Berlin and only then systematically take the city of Berlin.Includes 20 IllustrationsIn 1942 the Allied powers faced the most serious challenge to their control of the seas encountered in…
the Second World War: the menace of the U-boat. Fast, well- armed, and long-ranged, Hitler's submarines attacked shipping throughout the North Atlantic, often within sight of America's coastal towns and cities.Eventually, the combination of intelligence, land and sea- based air power, and surface vessel operations from both North American and British bases ended this threat, making possible the Allied build-up for the invasion of Europe in 1944.Flying radar-equipped long-range patrol planes, AAF airmen demonstrated the value of land-based air power against naval threats. This success has been reaffirmed consistently since the Second World War, from Vietnam and crises such as the Mayaguez incident to operations in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The Harpoon-armed B-52s of our present-day global Air Force are the heirs of a sea-control tradition dating to the AAF's A-29s and B-24s of the Second World War.Operation Thursday: Birth Of The Air Commandos [Illustrated Edition] (The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II #5)
By Herbert A Mason, SSgt Randy G Bergeron. 2015
Includes 20 IllustrationsOPERATION THURSDAY -- A bold, unconventional use of American air power to support British ground troops in Burma,…
Operation THURSDAY marked a critical development in the history of modern warfare. On March 5-6, 1944, the Allies conducted an air invasion of Burma, in an attempt to push back the Japanese in the China-Burma-India Theater and re-establish the land route between India and China. U.S. airmen formed a special operations unit--the 1st Air Commando Group--to transport troops to jungle locations and resupply them, often in the line of fire. The remarkable success of this operation lives on, fifty years later, among the elite 1st Air Commando Group--a force committed to meeting the challenge of unconventional warfare any time, any place, anywhere.Includes 20 illustrationsThe strategic bombardment of Japan during World War II remains one of the most controversial subjects of military…
history because it involved the first and only use of atomic weapons in war. It also raised the question of whether strategic bombing alone can win wars, a question that dominated U.S. Air Force thinking for a generation. Without question, the strategic bombing of Japan contributed very heavily to the Japanese decision to surrender. The United States and her allies did not have to invade the home islands, an invasion that would have cost many thousands of lives on both sides.This pamphlet traces the development of the bombing of the Japanese home islands, from the modest but dramatic Doolittle raid on Tokyo in April 1942, through the effort to bomb from bases in China that were supplied by airlift over the Himalayas, to the huge 500-plane raids from the Marianas in the Pacific. The campaign changed from precision daylight bombing to night incendiary bombing of Japanese cities and ultimately to the use of atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The story covers the debut of the spectacular B-29 aircraft--in many ways the most awesome weapon of World War II-- and its use not only as a bomber but also as a mine-layer.Hitting Home is the sequel to High Road to Tokyo Bay, a pamphlet by the same author that concentrated on Army Air Forces' tactical operations in Asia and the Pacific areas during World War II. Taken together, they provide an overview of U.S. Army Air Forces' operations, tactical and strategic, against Japan. The U.S. air offensive against Japan is the central story of the Pacific war--a drama of human courage and sacrifice and of a unique partnership among modern air, sea, and land forces.Claire Lee Chennault: Theorist And Campaign Planner
By Major John M Kelley. 2015
This monograph examines Claire Lee Chennault as a military theorist and campaign planner. It inquires whether Chennault's evolution of a…
theory of war assisted his planning the China-Burma-India Campaign during World War II.The monograph is divided into four sections. The first section focuses the historical background of Chennault and the war in Southeast Asia, emphasizing the war in China as this is where Chennault preponderantly fought from. In addition, it identifies the aims of the major belligerents of the Sino-Japanese War and why the Chinese actions were important to the Allied cause. The second section explores Chennault's theory of war. This section explores how he developed his theory of war and the theory itself. The third section analyzes how Chennault's theory met the Chinese and American ends (desired end state), means (application of the available resources), and ways (resource employment to achieve the ends). The fourth section concludes that Chennault's theory of war assisted him in planning the China-Burma-India campaign during the Second World War.Two functions precipitated from Chennault's theory of war. First, his theory clarified the past and the present; notably the Great War and the airpower's technological evolution. Second, it assisted Chennault to foresee the future. The future was realized because Chennault transcended the theorist role to that of an operational commander. His theory fostered an operational concept, the war of mobility, which developed into a fighting doctrine. With these resources and the invaluable contributions of the Chinese peasants, Chennault devised a method of employment that maximized the contributions from all the means. Chennault rationally created a campaign plan designed according to his theory.Imperial Japanese Navy Campaign Planning And Design Of The Aleutian-Midway Campaign
By Major Jonathan J. Gross. 2015
In May 1942, the Japanese found themselves in a favorable military situation. Previous successes had convinced Japanese naval planners that…
it was now possible to produce a strategic victory that could end the war through a negotiated peace. Employing the largest combined fleet of the war, the Aleutian-Midway campaign intended to satisfy that purpose. Merging the traditional battle fleet with battle proven aircraft carriers, the plan incorporated almost every major combat vessel in the Japanese Navy. Commitment of such a large force was intended to produce a high certainty for the successful accomplishment of three objectives: occupation of Midway Atoll, neutralization of the American threat from the Aleutians, and destruction of the American carrier task force. Thus, by securing the last remaining gaps in the Japanese defensive perimeter and destroying the only remaining surface threat to the Japanese homeland, the Japanese would, thereby, ensure a militarily favorable operating posture. Japanese victory in this operation conceivably would eliminate the American capability or desire to continue operations against Japan. With overwhelming combat power committed to this operation, success seemed certain. Since victory did not result from this operation, relative combat power was not the deciding factor in the battle.Includes 14 illustrationsOf all the Army Air Forces' many operations in the Second World War, none was more demanding or…
important than those supporting the activity of resistance groups fighting the Axis powers. The special operations supporting the Yugoslavian partisans fighting the forces of Nazism in the Balkans required particular dedication and expertise. Balkan flying conditions demanded the best of flying skills, and the tenacious German defenses in that troubled region complicated this challenge even further. In this study, Professor William Leary examines what might fairly be considered one of the most important early experiences in the history of Air Force special operations. It is ironic that, fifty years after these activities, the Air Force today is heavily involved in Balkan operations, including night air drops of supplies. But this time, the supplies are for humanitarian relief, not war. The airlifters committed to relieving misery in that part of the world follow in the wake of their predecessors who, fifty years ago, flew the night skies with courage and skill to help bring an end to Nazi tyranny.Canopies Of Blue: The U.S. Airborne Experience In The Pacific In WWII As A Case Study In Operational Art And Multi-Role Flexibility
By Major Channing M. Greene. 2015
As America's collective memory of the Second World War fades, popular history books and the entertainment industry have filled the…
knowledge gap with accounts from the European Theater. A resurgence in works focusing on the war in the Pacific has surfaced in recent years, but the topic still requires a fresh perspective. In particular, the American airborne experience in the Pacific presents a field ripe for exploration.This historical monograph argues that a careful review of the operations involving the 11th Airborne Division, the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion reveals a measure of foresight on the part of those who designed campaign plans in the Pacific. General Joseph Swing's implementation of the Paraglider concept in the 11th Airborne enabled his unit to perform a variety of tasks including amphibious operations, parachute drops, and POW camp raids. The Allies' only independent parachute regiment in the Pacific, the 503rd, successfully employed the combined arms concept in its capture of Nadzab and set the conditions for the Allied reduction of Japanese defenses around Rabaul. The United States Marine Corps' short-lived experiment with airborne forces revealed the usefulness of units in multi-role functions, but ultimately betrayed an inability to execute actual parachute drops because of logistical limitations in the ocean environment.Includes 16 photos illustrationsThe author traces the AAF's development of aerial night fighting, including technology, training, and tactical operations in…
the North African, European, Pacific, and Asian theaters of war. In this effort the United States never wanted for recruits in what was, from start to finish, an all-volunteer night fighting force.For combatants, a constant in warfare through the ages has been the sanctuary of night, a refuge from the terror of the day's armed struggle. On the other hand, darkness has offered protection for operations made too dangerous by daylight. Combat has also extended into the twilight as day has seemed to provide too little time for the destruction demanded in modern mass warfare.In World War II the United States Army Air Forces (AAF) flew night-time missions to counter enemy activities under cover of darkness. Allied air forces had established air superiority over the battlefield and behind their own lines, and so Axis air forces had to exploit the night's protection for their attacks on Allied installations. AAF night fighters sought to deny the enemy use of the night for these attacks. Also, by 1944 Allied daylight air superiority made Axis forces maneuver and resupply at night, by air, land, and sea. U.S. night fighters sought to disrupt these activities as an extension of daylight interdiction and harassment efforts. The AAF would seek to deny the enemy the night, while capitalizing on the night in support of daylight operations.Eichelberger - Intrepidity, Iron Will, And Intellect: General Robert L. Eichelberger And Military Genius
By Major Matthew H Fath. 2015
There are currently two contradictory schools of thought in the historiography of General Robert L. Eichelberger's generalship. One group of…
authors, John Shortal and Jay Luvaas, consider Eichelberger a brilliant World War II commander. Another author, Paul Chwialkowski, believes Eichelberger to be good, but not distinguished. This study attempts to develop a concise judgment of Eichelberger's leadership. The research analyzed Eichelberger's generalship using Clausewitz's theory of military genius as a model. The first step was to define military genius and to determine its components and subcomponents. Next, Eichelberger's pre-World War II education, mentorship, and training experiences were evaluated. The third step was to analyze Eichelberger's generalship during the Papua New Guinea, Netherlands New Guinea, and Philippines Campaigns of World War II to determine if he consistently demonstrated the qualities of military genius. This study concluded that Eichelberger definitively displayed the components of courage and determination but a judgment on his coup d'œil required a more detailed examination and warranted further research. Eichelberger's leadership is relevant to today's military officer because he successfully defeated an enemy who employed many asymmetrical tactics of potential enemies in the contemporary operating environment: anti-access denial, defense in complex terrain, and fanatical fighting abilities.